Handman expected to be arraigned

Posted: Monday, July 26, 1999

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A motel handyman questioned but ruled out as a suspect in the slayings of three Yosemite sightseers has now been linked to those crimes after his arrest in the beheading of a woman who worked in the national park.

The arrest Saturday of Cary Stayner even had one FBI agent wondering whether death of 26-year-old naturalist Joie Ruth Armstrong could have been prevented.

"I struggled with that issue for the last 24 hours and I continue to do so," James M. Maddock, FBI special agent-in-charge of Sacramento, said Sunday. "I'm confident we've done everything that reasonably could have been done."

Armstrong's decapitated body was found Thursday near her Yosemite housing.

Stayner, 37, was arrested Saturday at a nudist colony and is scheduled be arraigned today on a charge of murder in a national park, the FBI said.

Maddock said Stayner also is believed to have played a role in the killings of Carole Sund, her daughter Juli, and family friend Silvina Pelosso of Argentina. The three last were seen alive at a lodge in El Portal where Stayner worked as a maintenance man.

"We have developed specific information linking Stayner to the Sund-Pelosso murders," Maddock said.

Stayner previously was questioned in the slayings but ruled out as a suspect, Maddock said. He did not elaborate.

Investigators in that case had focused on a loose-knit band of ex-cons in Modesto who have histories of sex and drug offenses. Authorities had said they were confident that most of those responsible in the sightseer killings were already in custody on unrelated charges.

Maddock said there is no evidence linking Stayner to the other people who have come under scrutiny, but in light of the new development, the FBI will re-evaluating the possible roles of those people.

"We are looking at whether (Stayner) is solely responsible (for the sightseers murders) or if others are involved," Maddock said.

Armstrong's body was discovered a few hundred yards from the park housing she shared with a man and woman, who were away at the time. A park official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Associated Press the woman had been decapitated.

She last was seen alive Wednesday at the park offices of Yosemite Institute, where she worked. The institute's main offices are in El Portal - on the outskirts of Yosemite - and the organization has held conferences at the Cedar Lodge.

El Portal is also the town where the victims in the previous slayings were last seen alive in February during a sightseeing trip. The three women had stayed at the Cedar Lodge, where Stayner has rented a room above the restaurant for the past two years.